10 Things to do with: Raw Honey

Raw honey is one of the many modern superfoods, enjoying a comeback from the “crunchy” days of old. Why raw? Heating/pasteurizing turns honey into sugar syrup, and kills any beneficial bacteria, enzymes, and nutrients. Local honey can help treat allergies – eating the product of pollen from your local environment acts as a holistic vaccination. 

Honey is a staple in traditional Ayurvedic food and medicine. Used in conjunction with other herbs and spices to treat, prevent, and even cure illnesses from the common cold to digestive issues and hormonal imbalances. It’s also used in beauty routines! See the benefits of honey for more information. 

Raw honey is available at most generic grocery stores and health food shops. It’s also easy to find at the farmer’s market, where you can ask directly where it came from! Below are 10 cool things to do with raw honey. 

1. Eat – drizzle over goat cheese smeared on toasted walnut bread.
2. Drink – sweeten coffee and tea.
3. Treat – help chalky supplements go down; you know what they say about a spoonful of sugar?
4. Run – combine with chia seeds for an awesome alternative to endurance energy gel. 
5. Heal – antibacterial properties make honey a great natural treatment for cuts, scrapes, and burns.
6. Scrub – mix with almond oil and sugar for an incredibly smoothing beauty treatment.
7. Glow – apply raw honey to face, hair, and body, and wait 10 minutes before washing off.
8. Indulge – sticky toffee pudding with honey-glazed bananas. Not gluten-, dairy-, or sugar-free in the slightest, however. 
9. Healthify – fruit-and-nut energy balls respond well to a bit of raw honey. 
10. Lunch – peanut butter + banana + honey is still my favorite sandwich, and I’m well past the age of 9.  

Add more raw honey to your diet, and experience better health, glowing skin, and exciting new flavors. 

Patriotic Pie

This Sugar-Free Sunday happens to fall on Memorial Day weekend, a time usually reserved for beer, ribs, chips n’ dips, and all sorts of festive early summer fare. But what about the dessert table? 

As you gear up for BBQs and get-togethers, you might be nervous about facing the strawberry shortcake alone. To help you out, I came up with a cooling, red-white-and-blue summer treat free of grains and refined sugars. It’s actually more of a tart, but “patriotic pie” has a much better ring to it… Don’t you think?

 

Anyhow, if your willpower runs low on holiday weekends, offer to bring this pie as a contribution. That way, you’ll have at least one healthful option to choose from, and you don’t have to stand empty-handed next to your cake-guzzling cronies. 

I know, tough life. 

But in actuality, this tart is quite delicious. And if you bring it, you’ll be the talk of the party. With tangy goat cheese, sweet berry preserves, and mascarpone to smooth things out, it satisfies cravings in the best possible way. The crust has a lively kick from lemon zest and holds together quite well, despite the absence of eggs and grain flours. Give it a try!

 

Mixed Berry Tart -or- Patriotic Pie

1 cup walnuts

1 cup almonds

pinch of kosher salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon raw honey

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons ice water

8 ounces chevre (soft goat cheese)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup raw honey

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup mixed berry preserves (I used strawberry and blackberry… St. Dalfour is a great brand, fruit juice sweetened)

fresh berries for topping

1. In a food processor, grind nuts and salt until fine and crumbly. Add the lemon zest, honey, and coconut oil and pulse to combine. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together and is not too wet. Wrap in plastic, shape into a disk, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. When you’re ready to roll out the dough, remove from the fridge and let sit for 5 or so minutes. Place between two pieces of wax paper and roll out to a circle, about 14 inches in diameter. Place gently in a round tart pan with a removable bottom. Fold over the sides and press so it holds together; you might have to do a bit of patchwork, but remember that rustic is pretty! Pierce all over with a fork and freeze for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350’. Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, until browned. Be careful, as nuts burn easily. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature, a few hours. You can store the crust in the refrigerator overnight if you are not ready to make the filling.
4. To make the filling, let goat cheese and mascarpone soften a bit on the counter. With an electric mixer, beat goat cheese, vanilla extract, and honey until fluffy. Add mascarpone and beat to combine. In a saucepan over low heat, soften the berry preserves. Pour into the cheese mixture and fold with a spatula gently, just a few times, to swirl it through. Pour into prepared crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate until firm (can be done a day ahead). 
5. When ready to serve, garnish with lots of fresh berries.

Egg-Free, Paleo-ish Breakfasts

Here’s the deal: I can’t eat eggs. It’s something I’ve struggled with all my life, but I’ve never been tested by an allergist. I don’t think I need to, though – stomach cramps, flushed cheeks, and whole body inflammation are pretty self-explanatory reactions, if you ask me. 

Here’s the problem: I love eggs. Sometimes, I ignore my instincts and deal with the discomfort in order to have the smoked salmon + goat cheese omelet at my favorite cafe. Other times, I grudgingly abstain and go in search of lean, protein-packed breakfast alternatives. I’ve tried varying my egg-white-to-yolk ratio, diluting them in a quiche, leaving them raw, cooking them stiff… to no avail. Not much can temper my body’s distaste. 

And not much can replace the incredible edible egg – or so I thought, until I did some highly motivated, frustration-induced search + discovery, the results of which I’m sharing with you. I’ve compiled a brainstorm list of some excellent ways to start the day, egg-free. Try them, and let me know what you think! And if you have any more suggestions, I’d love for you to leave them in the comments. 

 

Egg-free breakfast ideas:

• leftover chicken apple sausage + chopped apple, sauteed, topped with cinnamon-maple yogurt (see picture above).
• smoked salmon with goat cheese and cucumber slices.
• cauliflower porridge (just like oatmeal!): steam and mash with cinnamon, coconut oil, nuts and seeds.
• baked yam topped with cinnamon-maple butter.
• cottage cheese, ricotta, or greek yogurt with fruit and nuts.
• bacon-wrapped avocado wedges: I’ve also done this with prosciutto for dinner. Divine. 
• kale smoothies.
• chia pudding.
• lentils with yogurt + mango.
• sushi/sashimi!
• antipasto plate with dried fruit, nuts, hard cheeses, cured meats.
• homemade energy bars or frozen fruit cream cake.
• ground turkey, browned and mixed with tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese.

 
So as you can see, my breakfasts have taken a bit of a savory turn, but I am delighted with how my body feels after halting the eggs completely and still upping the ante on morning protein. As I play around with ingredients, the ideas just keep coming. I’m so excited about the endless possibilities! 

 Feel free to leave your own tips and tricks below.

10 things to do with: Butter

Butter may very well be my favorite food. Well, okay – it’s probably a seven-way tie between butter, bacon, kale, parmesan cheese, sauerkraut, figs, and pistachios. 

But I digress. As much as we’ve been pushed to use olive oil as the heart-healthy alternative, and as much as popular low-fat rhetoric likes to frame butter as a villain, I actually don’t think of my butter consumption as a vice. It is a traditional, medicinal, nutritional dietary fat that has infinite uses in cooking and otherwise, and has been around for centuries – long before it was labeled as something we shouldn’t be eating, and long before people started doubling in width (and health insurance premiums). 

Why is butter so great? A few reasons. First, it’s delicious. Fat is the purest form of energy we can feed our bodies, the highest grade fuel we can consume. Bodies run better on butter. Second, its natural oils, aminos (protein), and fatty acids (especially omega-3s) support cell renewal, collagen production, and supple joints. Sounds like an anti-aging miracle to me. Finally, when grass-fed and/or pasture-raised, butter is brimming with vitamins from green nutrition, sunshine, and space. Of course, if your tummy + dairy aren't a match made in heaven, listen to your inner dietary wisdom (and that of your accredited nutrition professional) instead. For me, butter is soothing, and I have seen only improvements since adding more of it to my culinary repertoire.

So, without further ado, here is a list of 10 great things I think you should do with butter, starting today. Have any more ideas? Leave them in the comments!

10 things to do with butter

1. Make ghee – ghee is another name for clarified butter. It’s an ancient Indian food, used for everything from cooking, to medicine, to aiding sacred rituals. Ghee is also free of milk solids, which burn easily, so it has a higher smoke point and can be used at higher cooking temperatures than butter. See this great tutorial for how to make your own ghee.
2. Indulge – in some of Sarah Wilson’s sugar-free nut balls, which are brimming with nutrition.
3. Moisturize – slather room-temp butter on hair, skin, nail beds, and cuticles. You can even use it as shaving cream!
4. Whip it – with raspberry jam; and serve with a batch of almond-flour waffles. 
5. Preserve – spread a thin layer of butter on the cut edge of hard cheese, an onion, or other veggies before wrapping and refrigerating, to prevent spoilage and the growth of mold. 
6. Tea – make some matcha butter tea for the best morning pick-me-up alternative to coffee.
7. Coffee – if tea isn’t your thing, upgrade your coffee and make it bulletproof. 
8. Mushrooms – the very best way to cook flavorful mushrooms is with a couple tablespoons of butter, a cast iron pan, and a sprinkle of salt. Toss to coat, then leave them alone. 
9. Shine – forget spit and soap; rub a little butter on handbags, cowboy boots, silver jewelry, and other metals for impeccable sheen. 
10. Lubricate – who needs WD-40 when there’s butter in the fridge? The guy without butter in the fridge, that’s who.

I hope I’ve managed to convince you to incorporate more butter into your everyday lives. My favorite high quality brands are Straus and Kerrygold, both sold at Whole Foods and other specialty markets. 

Have questions? Suggestions? Ideas of your own? Leave ‘em below!

A sugar-free birthday

Without warning, about a year ago, my brother completely and effortlessly gave up refined sugar. No complaints, no justifications, no cheat days – just sheer willpower. On birthdays, he skipped the cake; at Christmas, he left his cookies for Santa; this Easter, you wouldn’t have found chocolate on the corners of his mouth. Every party, get-together, brunch/lunch/dinner out, he forewent the sweets for something more savory. 

I am proud, and in awe.

Naturally, I wasn’t about to let him turn 18 without a proper birthday treat. Not only has he been loving the date + pistachio energy bars of late (I also made a mocha version!), but this little sugar-free project is the perfect reason to invent a healthy, naturally-sweet birthday cake. A challenge in which I was more than willing (excited, even) to partake. 

I thought about trying my hand at a cashew cream cake, but I found myself gravitating towards something lighter and less substantial – it’s been hot here, and we have bathing suits to fit into! What I ended up with is something I’ll name a frozen fruit cream cake – it’s smooth, it’s refreshing, the base is delightfully chewy, and it reminds me of the ice cream cakes of childhood birthdays’ past. 

So, this cake is to wish a happy birthday to my brother, and let us not forget to wish a happy mothers’ day to our mothers! Celebrate with a perfectly virtuous, sugar-free icebox cake, and enjoy your sugar-free Sunday!

STRAWBERRY BANANA CREAM CAKE
Note: I used a springform pan to make this cake, but a regular round cake pan could also work. Just be sure to line it with parchment or plastic wrap for easy removal, and allow plenty of time for it to set in the freezer before serving.

7 ripe bananas

1 cup pitted medjool dates

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

8 tablespoons salted butter, divided

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

8 tablespoons coconut oil, divided

1 pint strawberries

more shredded coconut for garnish, if desired

1. Peel bananas and cut into 1-inch chunks. Place in a ziploc storage bag and freeze for 1-2 hours minimum.
2. Prepare the pan you are using by lining with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Set aside.
3. In a food processor, pulse dates and pistachios until crumbly. Add coconut, 4 tablespoons butter, the cinnamon and nutmeg, and pulse until evenly mixed and mixture starts to conform as one ball of dough. 
4. With slightly wet hands or spatula, press mixture evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. There should be a good 1/2-inch of crust, but if you have extra, you can press dough up the sides of the pan a bit. Place in the freezer to firm up.
5. Meanwhile, remove bananas from the freezer and allow to thaw for 10 minutes (this is important – I don’t want to be blamed for broken food processor blades!)
6. Add half of the bananas to the food processor bowl along with 4 tablespoons of the coconut oil. Grind until a completely smooth, soft-serve consistency is achieved. Coconut oil freezes quickly, so you may end up with a few unprocessed bits, and this is fine.
7. Take crust out of the freezer and pour the first layer of banana mixture on top. Smooth the top evenly with a spatula. Place back in the freezer while you prepare the next layer.
8. Remove the ends of the strawberries and cut into quarters. Add to the food processor bowl with the other 4 tablespoons of butter. Grind until completely smooth. Once banana layer is firm enough, pour strawberry layer on top, and place back in the freezer. This layer will take a bit longer to set than the banana layer.
9. Once strawberry layer is almost firm, prepare the last banana layer: add the rest of the bananas and the other 4 tablespoons coconut oil to the food processor, and grind until smooth. Pour over the strawberry layer and smooth the top. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded coconut, if desired, and place back in the freezer for 1-2 hours minimum.
10. Before serving, remove cake from the pan and allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container.